BELGIUM.

Monts-de-Piété.

Such was the state of the law respecting purely charitable, and what may be called penal, relief at the time of the establishment of the kingdom of the Netherlands. We have stated these provisions at some length, because they form, with little material alteration, the existing law on the subject in France. No change of any importance appears to have been made by the late Government of the Netherlands, or by the present Belgian Government, with respect to the hospices or the bureaux de bienfaisance; but with respect to foundlings, an arrêté of the 2nd June, 1825, declared that the expense of their maintenance ought to be supplied by the hospices, and so far as these were unable to meet it, from the local revenues of the commune or the province in which they had been abandoned—a provision which has been the subject of much complaint, as imposing a heavy and peculiar burthen on the few towns which possess foundling hospitals. And with respect to monts-de-piété, an arrêté of the 31st October, 1826, directed the local authorities of towns and communes to prepare regulations for the management of their respective monts-de-piété, their support, and the employment of the profits, subject to certain general rules; among which are,—

1. That the administration shall be gratuitous.

2. That the interest shall not exceed 5l. per cent. per annum, and that no farther charge shall be made on any pretext whatever.

3. That they shall be open every day.

4. That the pledges may be redeemed at any time before their actual sale.

5. That they shall not be sold until the expiration of 14 months from the time of the loan.

Mendicity.

The following are the most material alterations made in the laws respecting mendicity. By a law of the 28th November, 1818, the period of residence necessary for acquiring a settlement, or domicile de secours, was extended to four years: and by a law of the 12th October, 1819, the expense of supporting a person confined in a depôt de mendicité was thrown on the commune in which he had his domicile de secours.

In 1823 the Belgian Société de Bienfaisance was established, on the model of that which existed in Holland, and contracted with the Government to receive in its colonies de repression 1000 paupers, at the annual sum of 35 florins (2l. 18s. 4d.) per head. In consequence of this arrangement, all the regulations which required a beggar to be removed to a depôt de mendicité were varied by the introduction of the words “or to a mendicity colony;” and by an arrêté of the 12th October, 1825, the governors of the different provinces were directed to give notice that all persons in want of employment and subsistence would obtain them in the depôts de mendicité, or the mendicity colonies, and had only to apply to the local authorities in order to be directed to the one or the other; and that consequently no begging at any period of the year, or under any pretext whatever, could in future be tolerated. Persons arrested for begging were allowed on their own request, if their begging were not accompanied by aggravating circumstances, to be conducted to one or the other of these establishments without suffering the previous imprisonment inflicted by the penal code.

By another arrêté of the same date, the local authorities were directed to prepare new codes for the regulation of the different depôts de mendicité, based on principles of which the following are the most material:

1. That the depôts should be confined to the reception of those who, from age or infirmity, should be unfit for agricultural labour.

2. That all above the age of six, and under that of 70, and capable of working, should be kept to work, at average wages; that each person should be charged per day 17 cents (about 3½d.) for his maintenance, being its average cost, and retain the remainder of his earnings; and be allowed nothing beyond strict necessaries (mere bread is specified for food), if his earnings were under that sum.

That a portion of each person’s surplus earnings should be reserved and paid over to him on leaving the house, and the other portion paid to him from time to time in a local paper money.

3. That cantines should be established in the house, to enable the inmates to spend their surplus earnings.

4. That those who had voluntarily offered themselves for reception should be at liberty to quit the house, after having repaid the expenses of their maintenance there.

5. That those arrested and sent thither as beggars should not be set free until, 1st., they had repaid all expenses; and 2ndly, had fitted themselves to earn an independent livelihood, or been demanded by their commune or relatives, and security given for their future conduct.

6. That in each house there should be an ecclesiastic to perform divine service, and give moral and religious instruction, frequently in private, and twice a week in public; and that, where the inmates should consist of Protestants and Catholics, there should be both a Catholic and a Protestant ecclesiastic.

7. That in each house there should be a daily school for the young, and a school for the adult, open for four hours on Sundays, and for an hour two evenings of the week. The attendance on these schools to be compulsory.

8. That so far as the confined paupers did not earn their own subsistence, each commune should pay for the support of those having in it their domicile de secours, at the above-mentioned rate of 17 cents. (3½d.) per day, but be allowed a discount of 2 cents. per day (reducing the daily payment to 3d.) on prompt payment.

A decree of the 9th April, 1831, by the Regent, abolished that discount, the sum of 3d. a day having been found insufficient, except in the depôt of Bruges, in which the decree states that it covers every expense.

The existing Government has passed two very important laws, dated the 13th & 29th of August, 1833.

The first of these enacts, that until the laws on mendicity shall have been revised, the daily charge for the subsistence of each detenu in the depôt de mendicité, instead of being fixed at 17 cents., shall be determined annually by the Government. The commune bound to repay the expense is to be assisted, if incapable of meeting it, by the province, the King deciding if the matter is disputed. If payment is not made, a personal remedy is given against the receiver of the commune.

By the second, a conseil d’inspection des depôts de mendicité is to be elected in each province. Each conseil is to propose a scheme,—

1. For dividing the inmates of the depôts into three classes, comprising, 1st, the infirm; 2d, the able-bodied who have voluntarily entered them; 3d, those sentenced to them as beggars or vagrants.

2. For obviating the abuses which might follow from the power given to the indigent of voluntarily entering the depôts.

And as a general rule, a pauper who requests admission without any authority from his commune, may be received; but in that case his commune is to be immediately informed of what has occurred. If it offers to support him at home, he is to be sent back to it: if it refuses, he is to remain in the depôt at the expense of the commune: and the communes are to be informed that it depends on themselves to diminish the expense of supporting their poor in the depôts, by the judicious distribution of out-door relief, by the organization of committees for the purpose of watching over the indigent, and inquiring into the causes of their distress; by the erection of asylums for lunatics, the deaf and dumb, the blind and the incurable; and by the establishment of houses of employment (d’ateliers libres de travail) in winter, and infant schools. For all which purposes they are recommended to assess themselves. M. Lebeau says in his report, “Enfin chez, nous nul ne peut exiger de secours en vertu d’un droit.”[14] (p. 594.) But it must be admitted that these provisions, if not constituting a right in the pauper to relief, give at least a right to the managers of the depôts to force the parishes to relieve, either at home or in the depôt, any pauper who presents himself: and M. Lebeau himself felt the danger to which the parishes are exposed. In his circular of the 13th September, 1833, addressed to the provinces in which depôts are established, he urges the importance of adopting regulations respecting the reception and dismission of the poor voluntarily presenting themselves, which may preserve parishes from “the indefinite burden which would follow the too easy admission of applicants.” “These establishments,” he adds, “must not be considered by the poor as places of gratuitous entertainment, (des hôtelleries gratuites.) One of the best methods of preventing this will be the strict execution of the law which prescribes work to all those who are not physically incapable of it; and for those who are incapable, the ordinary hospices and hospitals are the proper receptacles. It is true that in some depôts work has been discontinued, because the results did not repay the expenditure; but this consideration ought not to prevail over the moral advantages which follow its exaction. Labour is the essential condition which must be imposed on the pauper; and if it require the sacrifice of some expenditure, that sacrifice must be made.”

In a subsequent circular, dated the 4th July, 1834, and addressed to the governors of the different provinces, M. Lebeau states, that one of the causes assigned for the prevalence of mendicity, is the facility with which persons obtain release from the depôts. “I invite you, M. le Gouverneur,” says the Minister, “when a pauper requests his release, to consider his previous history, to ascertain whether he has the means of subsistence, or the local authorities have engaged to provide for him; and to treat with great suspicion the solicitations of parishes, as they are always interested in obtaining the release of the paupers for whose maintenance they pay.”

With respect to the general working of these institutions we have not much information. It appears from the report of M. Lebeau that there are in Belgium six depôts de mendicité; one at Hoogstraeten for the province of Antwerp, at Cambre for Brabant, at Bruges for the two Flanders, at Mons for Hainault, at Namur for Namur and Luxembourg, and at Reckheim for Limbourg and Liege; that the hospices for the old and impotent, and the hospitals for the sick, are very numerous, and that nearly every commune possesses its bureau de bienfaisance for the distribution of out-door relief. In 1832 the annual income of the different bureaux de bienfaisance was estimated at 5,308,114 francs (equal to about 212,325l. sterling), and that of the hospices at 4,145,876 francs (equal to about 165,835l. sterling), altogether about 378,160l. But the report contains no data from which the whole expenditure in public relief, or the whole number of persons relieved, or the general progress or diminution of pauperism, can be collected.

An important paper, however, is contained in the supplement to M. Lebeau’s report, stating the number of foundlings, deserted children and orphans, in the nine provinces constituting the kingdom of Belgium, in the years 1832 and 1833; of which we subjoin a copy, having added to it the population of the different provinces, as given in the official statement of 1830.

YEAR 1832.

Population.	PROVINCES.	Average number of		TOTAL NUMBER.	TOTAL EXPENSES.	Subdivision of those Expenses among			OBSERVATIONS.
Population.	PROVINCES.	Foundlings.	Deserted Children and Orphans.	TOTAL NUMBER.	TOTAL EXPENSES.	The Hospitals, Charitable Institutions or Foundations.	Towns or Communes.	Provinces.	OBSERVATIONS.
354,974	Anvers	886	566	1,452	71,300	..	31,300	40,000	a
556,146	Brabant	2,244	286	2,530	197,550	..	147,050	50,500	b
601,678	Flandre Occidentale	35	461	496	34,123	15,600	18,523	..	c
733,938	Flandre Orientale	688	219	907	64,479	..	..	64,479	d
604,957	Hainault	1,870	333	2,203	172,792	..	25,072	147,720	e
369,937	Liége	41	153	194	15,550	9,665	4,694	1,191	} f
337,703	Limbourg	11	123	134	12,056	10,658	1,398	..
292,151	Luxembourg	13	12	25	1,841	232	1,609	..
212,725	Namur	653	9	662	44,533	..	25,533	19,000	g
4,064,209	TOTAL	6,441	2,162	8,603	614,224	36,155	255,179	322,890

(a) There is a tour at Antwerp, and also at Mechlin.

(b) A tour in Brussels and one in Louvain.

(d) A tour at Ghent.

(e) A tour in Mons, and one in Tournay.

(f) No tour.

(g) A hospital, but no tour.

N.B. There are tours at Antwerp, Mechlin, Brussels, Louvain, Ghent, Mons, and Tournay; seven in all.

N.B. A tour is a horizontal wheel, with a box for the reception of the infant, which, when empty, is open to the street, and when full is turned into the interior of the house.

YEAR 1833.

PROVINCES.	Number of		Total.	Expenses of				TOTAL EXPENSES.
PROVINCES.	Foundlings.	Deserted Children.	Total.	Foundlings.		Deserted Children.		TOTAL EXPENSES.
Anvers	886	578	1,464	37,107	65	26,927	61	64,035	26
Brabant	2,648	318	2,966	182,321	69	23,081	84	205,403	53
Fl. Occidentale	39	460	499	3,258	67	31,841	89	35,100	56
Fl. Orientale	752	242	994	49,874	81	14,902	67	64,717	48
Hainault	1,969	382	2,351	123,368	71	23,533	18	146,901	89
Liége	38	162	200	2,899	0	12,857	04	15,756	04
Limbourg	14	157	171	913	96	11,054	44	12,968	40
Luxembourg	7	31	38	880	94	3,212	80	4,093	74
Namur	615	7	622	41,082	0	467	60	41,549	60
	6,968	2,337	9,305	442,647	43	147,879	07	590,526	60

Foundlings.

It appears from this statement that in the provinces of Antwerp, Brabant, and Hainault, containing a population of 1,514,072 persons, and possessing each two public receptacles for foundlings, the number of foundlings in 1833 was 5,404, or 1 in 278: that in Flandre Orientale and Namur, containing a population of 946,663, and possessing each a single public receptacle, the number of foundlings was 1367, or 1 in 699; and that in Flandre Occidentale, Liége, Limbourg and Luxembourg, containing a population of 1,601,469, but having no such establishment, the number of foundlings was 98, or less than 1 in 16,000. Nor does this difference arise from an increased number of deserted children in those provinces in which foundling hospitals do not exist: on the contrary, the numbers in the second column, comprising both orphans and deserted children, in the four provinces in which no foundling hospitals exist, amount to 910, out of a population of 1,601,469, being 1 in 1649, whereas those in Antwerp, Brabant and Hainault amount to 1356, out of a population of 1,514,077, or 1 in 116; and when it is recollected that the proportion of orphans can scarcely differ in the different provinces, and that in the second column they are mixed with the deserted children, the superiority of the four former provinces over the three latter will be found to be really much greater than it appears.

Nor does the difference arise from the prevalence of infanticide.

It appears from the statistique des tribunaux de la Belgique, that in the years 1826, 1827, 1828, and 1829, there were in the provinces of Antwerp, Brabant, Flandre Orientale, Hainault, and Namur, containing 2,450,740 inhabitants, and possessing foundling establishments, 13 convictions for infanticide; and in Flandre Occidentale, Liege, Limbourg, and Luxembourg, containing 1,601,469 inhabitants, and no such establishments, only nine convictions, being a proportion slightly inferior. So far, therefore, from foundling hospitals having had a tendency to prevent desertion of children, or infanticide, it appears that their tendency is decidedly to promote the former, without preventing in any degree the latter. The real infanticides, strange as it may sound, are the founders and supporters of foundling hospitals. The average mortality in Europe of children during the first year does not exceed one in five, or 20 per cent. In England and Holland it is less: in Belgium it is 22⁴⁹⁄₁₀₀, per cent. But in the foundling hospitals of Belgium (and their mortality is below the average of such establishments), it is 45 per cent.[15]

In the foundling hospital in Brussels it is now 66 per cent., having been from 1812 to 1817, 79 per cent.

Nor is the fate of those who escape from these receptacles much preferable to that of those who perish there. M. Ducpétiaux, the inspector of prisons, states that, small as is their number relative to the rest of the population, they form a considerable proportion of the inmates of gaols and prisons, and a still larger proportion of the prostitutes.[16]

Such having been the legislation, and such being its results, an attempt towards its improvement was made by a law, dated the 30th July, 1834. That laws enacts, that from the 1st of January, 1835, the maintenance of foundlings and of deserted children whose place of settlement is not known, shall be supplied one half by the communes in which they shall have been exposed or deserted, with the assistance of their bureaux de bienfaisance, and the other half by the province of which those communes form a part, and that an annual grant shall be made by the State in aid of this expenditure; and that the expense of maintaining deserted children whose place of settlement is known, shall be supported by the hospices and bureaux de bienfaisance of their place of settlement, with the assistance of the commune.

The object of this law is stated in a circular from the Minister of Justice, dated the 23d January, 1834.

He directs, in the first place, the local authorities to provide for the subsistence of the foundlings with whom they may be charged, without reference to the proposed annual grant, since neither the amount of that grant, nor the mode of its distribution, is laid down by the law; and urges them to prevent the increase of their own burthens by endeavouring to prevent the abandonment of children born within their jurisdictions, and the exposure within their jurisdictions of children born elsewhere; and for that purpose to procure the punishment by law of those convicted of having exposed infants, or made a custom of taking them to hospitals. He admits, however, that the necessary investigations are matters of great delicacy; and he might have added that the punishment by law to which he refers does not exist, unless punishment by law means the arbitrary interference of the police, so much tolerated in continental Europe.

“These,” he adds, “are the wishes of the Government and of the Chambers; and this declaration will enable you to understand the motives of the silent repeal of the law, directing the establishment of tours for the reception of foundlings. The Legislature could not at the same time prescribe measures intended to diminish the exposure of children, and an institution by which it is favoured and facilitated. It did not venture to pronounce the suppression of the existing tours; but the silence of the law on this subject is the expression of its earnest desire that this institution should be discontinued; the mode of discontinuing it is left to the local authorities. The Government will require from you an annual report on these subjects, before it decides on the distribution of the annual grant; and the favour shown to each district may depend on its endeavours to comply with these instructions.”

This circular is a curious instance of an attempt to undermine an institution which the Government and the Legislature disapprove, but which they do not venture directly to grapple with. All that the Legislature ventures directly to do is to express its earnest desire (désir formel), by the silence of the law. The Government however goes further, and holds out hints, though it does not venture to hint very clearly, that the fewer the foundlings in any district, the larger will be the share of that district in the government grant. Under the influence of these double motives we may expect the tours soon to be closed.

We have also inserted (p. 607) a paper respecting the operation of the monts-de-piété, of which the following is the result:—

Average of Nine Years, from 1822 to 1830 inclusive.		1831.		1832.
Pledges.	Amount.	Pledges.	Amount.	Pledges.	Amount.
	Francs.		Francs.		Francs.
1,271,122	3,778,286	1,185,834	3,268,104	1,129,373	3,939,219
	or		or		or
	£151,131		£130,124		£157,548

The number of pledges redeemed is stated only for 1832, in which year 1,124,115 pledges, on which 3,162,399 francs, or 126,495l. sterling, had been lent, were redeemed. It is to be observed that the pledges are for small sums, amounting, on an average, to about three francs, or less than half-a-crown per pledge; and that the amount of the redemption in 1832 nearly corresponds with the amount lent in 1831. On the whole, considering the low rate of interest exacted by the Belgian monts-de-piété, as compared with that taken by our pawnbrokers, the small aggregate amount of deposits, being about 150,000l. for four millions of people, is a strong indication of the generally provident habits of the labouring population.

As further illustrations of the general working of the Belgian system, we extract the following particulars from the reports from Antwerp and Ostend. (pp. 627, 628, 629, 630, 634, 636, 637, and 639.)

[14] “With us no one has a right to relief.”

[15] Quetelet, Recherches sur la Population, &c., p. 38.

[16] Des Modifications, &c. de la Loi sur les Enfans Trouvés, p. 13.

Antwerp.

Population, 11,328.

Vagrants.

Indigent travellers, foreigners, or denizens, who pass through Antwerp, are received there at an establishment called St. Julien’s Hospital, where they are lodged and boarded for three nights at the expense of the establishment, which provides their wants for the moment.

The foundation of this hospital, which yearly receives about 1000 individuals, dates from the beginning of the 14th century. It subsists by itself, under the direction of a private charitable administration, by means of some fixed revenues, and also by the liberal donations of philanthropic persons.

The same poor travellers, when Belgians, receive at Antwerp an indemnity of 15 centimes, or 1½d. sterling, per league per head for travelling expenses to the first town in the neighbourhood, where this relief is continued to them. These travelling expenses are at the charge of the town, and paid out of the municipal funds, in virtue of a Royal Act of the 10th May, 1815.

Destitute Able-bodied.

Necessitous individuals of the labouring and indigent class, who do not attempt to go a begging, and who, for want of work, are without means of providing for the necessaries of life, and also the members of their families, are provided for at their own dwellings, by the care of the bureau de bienfaisance, by the means or revenues of this establishment, and the subsidies which the town grants it yearly out of the municipal funds, in order to supply what may be necessary to continue its service. The amount of this grant varies annually, according to the real wants of the establishment, by reason of the circumstances that either augment or reduce its expenses.

The succours distributed by this establishment consist in money, bread, potatoes, fuel, and clothing, &c.

Besides, there exists at Antwerp, under the direction of the same bureau de bienfaisance, a workhouse, where carpets of cow-hair and other articles are made. This workhouse is established especially to procure work to the indigent and working class who are without employ. The population of this establishment varies according to the different seasons and other circumstances. It is most frequented during the winter, when the navigation is interrupted, and the stagnation of several branches of industry causes the number of indigent to augment. Those who come to work in this establishment remain there the whole day, and receive their meals, besides a salary in cash, proportioned to the work they are employed at.

If, through the effects of a hard winter, the wants of the labouring and indigent class are excessive, there are formed at Antwerp private societies for relief, which, by means of donations, collections, and voluntary subscriptions, efficaciously assist the unfortunate by distributions of money, food, fuel, &c.

The depôt of mendicity in the province of Antwerp is situated at Hoogstraeten, in an ancient manor bought for that purpose by the former department administration. It is a spacious establishment of agriculture, possessing a great number of acres of arable, pasture, and wood land, and a still greater number of heath (bruyère).

Those individuals who are destitute, and who desire to be admitted into this establishment, are received as free men; the vagrants are brought there by force. Both are employed there at sundry works of agriculture, of manufacture, or in the household establishment, according to their physical strength. The impotent and aged alone are kept without working in a separate place.

For several years the expense for the maintenance of individuals of the depôt at Hoogstraeten has not amounted to more than 32 centimes per individual, (or 3d. sterling.)

On the 1st January, 1834, the number of persons entertained at the provincial depôt, on account of the city of Antwerp, was 153. The population of this establishment generally amounts to 250 or 300 individuals, all belonging to the province.

The children of the working class or indigent are received, without any distinction, in the public schools established gratis. Those children abandoned to the public charity, or of whom the parents are entirely unable to bring them up, and who request to be relieved of them from inability to maintain them, are sent to an hospital established for that purpose, or else placed in the country under the direction of the civil hospital, or the bureau de bienfaisance.

Impotent through Age.

There are at Antwerp 26 private hospitals, founded and established for many centuries by charitable persons in favour of a stated number of aged persons, of both sexes, and of decent and respectable families; but in preference for the members of the founders’ family, and which persons, without being entirely destitute, have, notwithstanding, no sufficient means to provide for their subsistence. Those persons inhabit a small house in the hospital, where they keep their own household separately, and subsist by what they can earn personally by any hand-work, and by the weekly succour which they receive from the revenue of the foundation. These men and women reside in separate hospitals.

Destitute persons, of both sexes, who are impotent through age, but have not claims to be admitted into the before-mentioned private hospital, are maintained by the administrations of the poor, the sick, incurable, and impotents, in the civil hospital, and the others in the country, where they are boarded with the farmers at the expenses of the public establishment of charity; that is to say, of the administration of the civil hospitals and bureau de bienfaisance. Besides, there is at Antwerp a special establishment as a refuge to the impotent through age, of decent and respectable families, who are without means of procuring a livelihood.

Sick.

In Belgium every town has its civil hospital for the maintenance of destitute sick. That of Antwerp is open to all the unfortunate, without distinction, whenever their social position does not afford them the means of being attended by a physician at their dwellings, who are deemed proper objects for admission.

Are also admitted, in a private room in this hospital (upon payment of a small daily retribution), all individuals who, although not entirely destitute, prefer to be treated in the hospital rather than at their own houses; such as men and female servants, who are commonly sent there by the persons who have them in their employ.

Indigent persons, born at Antwerp, are treated at the hospital at the expense of the establishment. Those who are not of the town, but are of the country, are treated there at the expense of the commune where they have their domicile de secours.

These expenses are fixed at the rate of 62 cents., or 1 franc 31 centimes (1s. 0½d. sterling) per diem, whatever may be the sickness. The expenses, for the treatment of those who have no domicile de secours, are repaid by government out of the treasury funds. The town provides for the insufficiency of the private revenue of this establishment, in the same manner as it does for the bureau de bienfaisance, by means of “subsidies in aid,” paid out of the municipal funds. This amount of “subsidies” varies annually according to the wants of the administration of the hospital.

Persons of the indigent and necessitous class, whose sickness or complaint is not severe enough to require their entering the hospital, receive medical and surgical relief at their own homes. To that effect, there are several physicians and surgeons appointed and attached to the bureau de bienfaisance, who give their assistance to the sick who require it, every one in the district or section for which he is appointed. These physicians and surgeons, who receive a fixed salary from the administration of the poor, also receive at their domicile, at fixed hours of the day, indigent persons who want to consult them on the state of their health; and it is on a ticket delivered by them, that such sick persons are received at the hospital. The bureau de bienfaisance has a special pharmacy, situated in the centre of the town, where medicine is given gratis to the indigent, on a prescription signed by a physician of the poor establishment.

The indigent persons relieved by the bureau de bienfaisance receive only the strict necessaries of life to feed and support their families, and no more, so that they have nothing to satisfy their private wants or fancies, nor can they procure themselves any luxuries or other comforts; and they always lead a life, that, although protected against the most pressing wants, is notwithstanding a very miserable one. It is thus the interest of those individuals that are able to work (and this they perfectly comprehend) to seek to maintain themselves. It is only those persons who are totally depraved, and who give themselves entirely up to drunkenness and every other excess, who feel assured that, after having wasted and spent the little they possess, and abandoned the work that maintained them, there always remains to them the resource of the distributions made by the administration of the poor.

In Antwerp, the situation of a workman, whatever may be the class he belongs to, and who maintains himself solely by his work, is by all means preferable and better than that of a person who only subsists by relief or public charity. The existence of those who reside in the depôts of mendicity, excepting only the loss of their liberty, is even in many respects preferable to the situation of the latter, who are maintained by general charity.

Ostend.

Population, 11,328.

Destitute Able-bodied.

The only legal mode of lodging the destitute able-bodied is to send them to the depôt of mendicity, where they are treated as paupers. There existed formerly agricultural colonies on the same principles as those in Holland, to which the parishes could send their able-bodied, destitute, and their families; it was found in vain to attempt making cultivators or proprietors of them.

The destitute able-bodied, but quite indigent, of the two Flanders, and the vagrants who have been tried as such, compose altogether a population of about 300 persons (the destitute able-bodied of Ghent excepted.) For each of these 300 poor, his parish pays a contribution of 32 centimes (3d.) per day (men and women equally.) The depôt for both the Flanders established at Bruges, by the mildness of its administration, has gradually overcome the dread which it inspired at its origin. The directors have banished all rigour, not even enforcing work on the destitute; but as they are paid according to their industry, that inducement to work is found sufficient. This establishment is remarkably prosperous, having already saved fr. 80,000 (3200l.), all expenses paid. It is not found necessary to have any armed force in the neighbourhood to keep this large number of destitute in order, this being attained by gentleness and good usage. On any of the poor leaving the establishment, improved in their moral conduct, they receive a part of their own earnings, which enables them to seek some employment.

Besides this depôt, there is at Ghent a workhouse where employment is given to the destitute, but without their being maintained. The number of labourers in this establishment, which was erected by voluntary subscription, has been as many as 1900 in time of great distress.

Every church has its masters of the table of the poor, or distributors of assistance. Such funds proceed from collections made in the church, voluntary alms, and assignments from the “bureau de bienfaisance.” Weekly distributions of bread or fuel, sometimes money or clothing, are made; but this assistance is generally discontinued in the summer months, on account of the abundance of work during that season. In the towns the relief consists principally in money (about 32 centimes per man and per day, or 3d. sterling.) In the country the rule is not to give money, but assistance in kind.

Generally their children may be educated gratuitously; but they take little advantage of it, as they prefer employing them in gathering up firewood, &c.; and, generally, there is felt a want of coercive measures to force the parents to send their children to school, and to allow them to be put out as apprentices.

Impotent through Age.

There are almshouses throughout the kingdom, where the impotent through age are maintained and taken care of. These institutions are so far profitable to the parishes, as that it would cost them more money to assist these persons separately. Some have been endowed by deeds of gift, others are supported by the inhabitants of the towns. The number of them is increasing in the country, and most towns are well provided in that respect.

The assistance afforded to those relieved at home is in clothing, bread, fuel twice a week, and 75 centimes in money (7d.) every Sunday.

There exists between the self-supporting labourers and the persons subsisting exclusively on alms or public charity, a very numerous intermediate class, consisting of those who live partly on relief and partly on labour, so that the two extremities only of the scale can be compared. An able-bodied but not labouring man receives only about the half what the last of those who do labour and are not assisted would earn; the legal relief being 32 centimes (3d.), and the lowest day’s work more than 64 centimes (6d.) As to liberty, nobody is forced to work, not even at the depôt of mendicity; they are only not allowed to go out at will. Food is almost equally distributed, and many destitute poor prefer the depôt to free labour, when they are not sure of being employed every day; but in no other instance.

The grievances which result from this system arise from the neglect, the ignorance or the corruption of the local authorities, and although numerous, they are not very striking.

2dly. Grievances arise from the want of proper conditions with which lands or houses are bequeathed to the bureaux de bienfaisance. Wherever a revenue is bequeathed it is shared equally by the poor, even when they may be beyond need; for instance, a beggar will receive 1 fr. 50 c. (1s. 2d.) per day for her maintenance, which would not have cost more than the fifth part of that sum if paid by the depôt of mendicity. To obviate this abuse, and to increase the power of useful charity, the revenue of the bureau de bienfaisance of each parish should be added to the sum principal of the province when the revenue of the bureau exceeds the wants of its locality. 3dly. Grievances arise from the liberty of parents to neglect their children, and allowing them to beg alms for their own benefit. This last appears to be the root of the evil, and the great cause of the augmentation of pauperism in these towns.

Gaesbeck. (page 1.)

But the most interesting portion of the Belgian details is Count Arrivabene’s account of Gaesbeck, a small village about nine miles from Brussels, containing about 857 acres, inhabited by 364 persons, forming 60 families, or separate menages, constituted of 13 comparatively large farmers, occupying each from 30 to 150 acres, 18 small proprietors or small farmers, 21 day-labourers, and 8 artizans. The commune possesses a property producing an annual revenue of 556 francs, or nearly 23l. sterling, managed by its bureau de bienfaisance, of which the curé is the acting member. It expended in the year 1832, on the relief of the poor, (including the salary of the schoolmaster and clothing for the poor children who were to be confirmed,) 625 francs, or about 25l. 2s., being rather less than 1s. 4½d. per head. How the extra 2l. 2s. was obtained is not mentioned; but as the bureau is stated to have always nearly a year’s revenue in hand, it was probably taken from the receipts of a previous year. The heaviest item of expense is the support of one old man, at the annual expense of 72 francs, (rather less than 3l.) Ten other individuals, or heads of families, appear to have received nearly regular relief, amounting in general to about 6d. a week; and four others to have been assisted at times irregularly; the largest sum being 1l., given to L. Maonens, “pour malheur.” There has been only one illegitimate birth during the last five years. The average age of marriage is 27 for men, and 26 for women; the average number of births to a marriage, 3½. As these averages are taken for a period of 23 years, ending in 1832, during which the population has not increased, they may be relied on. Of the whole 60 families, only 11 are without land; all the others either possess some, or hire some from the proprietor. The quantity generally occupied by a day-labourer is a bonnier, or about 2½ acres, for which he pays a rent of from 60 to 80 francs. With this land the labourers keep in general a cow, a pig, and poultry. To be without land is considered the extreme of poverty. The number of labourers is precisely equal to the demand for their services. Daily wages are 6d., with some advantages equal to about 1d. more; and, as might be expected under a natural system, with no preference of the married to the unmarried. Labourers are generally hired by the year, and remain long in the same service. Crime is exceedingly rare: for the last 12 years no one has been committed to prison. Offences against the game laws are unknown. There are three houses of entertainment in the village, but they are not frequented by the labourers. “Are the labourers discontented; do they look on the farmers with envy?” asked the Count of his informant. “I do not believe,” was the answer, “that the labourers envy the farmers. I believe that the relation between the farmers and labourers is very friendly: that the labourers are perfectly contented in their situation, and feel regard and attachment for their employers.” (p. 14.)

What a contrast is exhibited by this picture of moral, contented, and (if the term is permissible) prosperous poverty, supported by the frugality and providence of the labourers themselves, and that of the population of a pauperized English village, better fed indeed, better paid, better clothed, and better lodged, and, above all, receiving 10, or perhaps 20 times the amount of parochial alms, but depraved by profligacy, soured by discontent, their numbers swelled by head-money and preference of the married to double the demand for their labour, their frugality and providence punished by the refusal of employment, and their industry ruined by the scale; looking with envy and dislike on their masters, and with hatred on the dispensers of relief!

And it is to be observed that the independence of the Belgian peasantry does not arise from any unwillingness to accept of relief. Out of the 60 families forming the population of the village, 19 appear to have received it in 1832; and a fact is related by Count Arrivabene, which shows that indiscriminate alms are as much coveted there as with us. In 1830 (the year of the revolution) many persons applied for charity at the gate of the castle of Gaesbeck, the residence of Marquis Arconati, and something was given to each. The next year the applications were renewed: the sum given to each applicant was fixed at 1d., and a single day in the week was fixed for its distribution. On the first of these days there were 50 applicants; the second, 60. The sum given was reduced to ½d. to a man, and a farthing to a child; but towards the end of the season the weekly assemblage had risen to 300 and 400 persons; they came from 10 and 12 miles distance, and it became necessary to abolish the allowance, trifling as the amount appears.

Poor Colonies.

The last portion of the Belgian institutions requiring notice are the poor colonies. We have already stated, that in 1823 the Belgian Société de Bienfaisance was established on the model and for the purposes of that already existing in Holland. In the beginning of that year the society purchased 522 bonniers (rather less than 1,300 statute acres), at Wortel, for the establishment of two colonies, called free, and divided them into 125 farms, of 3½ bonniers (about 9 statute acres) each; 70 in the colony No. 1, and 55 in the colony No. 2. In 1823 they purchased 516 bonniers (about 1,280 acres), at Mexplus and Ryckevoorsel, for the establishment of a mendicity colony. The first estate cost 623l., the second 554l., or less than 10s. an acre, from which the quality of the land may be inferred.

Families placed in the free colonies were provided each with a house, barn, and stable, a couple of cows, sometimes sheep, furniture, clothes, and other stock, of the estimated value, including the land, of 1,600 florins (133l. 6s. 8d. sterling), which was charged against them as a debt to the society. They were bound to work at wages fixed by the society, to wear the uniform, and conform to the rules of the colony, and not to quit its precincts without leave. A portion of their wages was retained to repay the original advance made by the society; a further portion to pay for the necessaries furnished to them from time to time, and the food for their cattle; and a portion paid to them in a base money of the colony, to be expended in shops established by the society within its limits.

At first each family of colonists worked on its own farm, and managed its own cattle, but it was found that the land was uncultivated, and the cattle died for want of attention or food; and in 1828 the society took back the cattle, and employed all the colonists indiscriminately in the general cultivation of the land of the colony. “From this time,” says M. Ducpétiaux (p. 624), “the situation of the colonist who is called free, but is in fact bound to the society by restrictions which take from him almost the whole of his liberty for the present, and deprive him of all hope of future enfranchisement, has resembled that of the serfs of the middle ages or of Russia. It is worse than that of the Irish cottiers, who, if they are fed like him on potatoes and coarse bread, have at least freedom of action and the power of changing their residence.”

Those colonists who had obtained a gold or silver medal, as a testimony that they could support themselves out of the produce of their own farms, were excepted from this arrangement, and allowed to retain the management of their farms, paying a rent to the society; but at the date of M. Ducpétiaux’s communication (10th December, 1832), the greater part even of them had been forced to renounce this advantage, and to fall back into the situation of ordinary colonists. Four families were all that then remained in this state of comparative emancipation.

The inhabitants of the mendicity colony were from the first subjected to the regulations ultimately imposed on the free colonists, with the additional restriction of being required to live in common on rations afforded by the society; the only respect in which, according to M. Ducpétiaux, they now differ from the free colonists.

Count Arrivabene visited these colonies in 1829, and then predicted their failure. The three years which elapsed between his visit and the report of M. Ducpétiaux were sufficient to prove the accuracy of this prophecy.

It appears from the statement of M. Ducpétiaux (p. 621), that on the 1st of July, 1832, the debts due from the society amounted to 776,021 florins (about 64,661l. sterling); the whole value of its property to 536,250 florins (about 44,698l. sterling); leaving a deficit of 239,771 florins, or nearly 20,000l. sterling. And this deficit was likely to increase every year; the expenses, as they had done from the beginning, greatly exceeding the receipts, a fact which is shown by the following table:—

	Free Colonists.	Beggars.	Expenditure.		Receipts.
1822	127	..	38,899	50	..
1823	406	..	93,532	07	..
1824	536	..	106,102	72	12,339	31
1825	579	490 [17]	102,983	73	25,740	74
1826	563	846	163,933	45	56,476	88
1827	532	899	168,754	61	50,677	38
1828	550	774	144,645	28	54,994	62
1829	565	703	174,611	44	98,523	57
1830	546	598	127,358	72	67,718	72
1831	517	465	135,405	81 [18]	82,578	81 [19]

[17] During the four last months.

[18] These sums do not include many of the expenses of administration. They consist simply of the sums remitted to the director for current expenses.

[19] These sums include not only every species of net profit, but in fact the value of the gross produce.

M. Ducpétiaux’s statement may be compared with that of Captain Brandreth, who visited the colonies at about the same period. (pp. 19, 20.)

Among the colonists there were a few whose previous habits and natural dispositions disposed them to avail themselves, to the best of their ability, of the benevolent provisions thus offered for their relief, and who had worked industriously, and conducted themselves well during their residence in the colony. Their land was cultivated to the extent of their means; and their dwelling-houses had assumed an appearance of greater comfort, order, and civilization than the rest. But these were too few in number, and the result too trifling to offer the stimulus of emulation to others.

Those farms that I examined, with the above exceptions, were not encouraging examples: there were few evidences of thrift and providence, the interior of the dwellings being, in point of comfort, little, if at all removed from the humblest cottage of the most straitened condition of labourers in this country.

A clause in the regulations allows certain of the colonists, whose good conduct and industry have obtained them the privilege, to barter with the neighbouring towns for any article they may want.

The nearest towns to the establishment, of any note, are Hoogstraten and Tournhout; but on inquiry I could not find that any intercourse was maintained with them; and the country round offered no evidences of the existence of a thriving community in its centre, exercising an influence on its traffic or occupations. In the winter I should think the roads to the colonies scarcely practicable for any description of carriages.

From what I saw of the social condition of the colonists, I am disposed to insist much on the inexpediency of assembling, in an isolated position especially, a large community of paupers for this experiment.

Admitting the physical difficulties to have been much less than they are, and the prospect of pecuniary advantage much greater and more certain, the moral objections to the system would outweigh them. Without the example of the better conditions of society, there can be no hope of such a community gradually acquiring those qualities that would fit the members of it for a better condition. One or two families established in the neighbourhood of an orderly and industrious community would find the stimulus of shame, as well as emulation, acting on their moral qualities and exertions; but in the present case, where all are in a condition of equal debasement, both of those powerful stimuli are wanting. The reports of the progress of the Dutch free colonies up to the year 1828 are certainly encouraging; and as the same system has been adopted in the free colonies of Belgium as in Holland, and the experiment in both cases tried on similar soils, they might lead to the inference that some peculiar cause has operated in favour of the Dutch colonies, and against those of Belgium. Not having had an opportunity of visiting the Dutch colonies, I cannot offer an opinion on the subject; but reasoning from what I personally witnessed, I should be disposed to think, that either some greater encouragement has been granted in Holland, or some improvement of the system adopted; or that the habits, dispositions, and character of the Dutch fit them better for this experiment.

The same authorities that I have quoted in the case of these colonies, speak favourably also of the Belgian colonies up to the same period; and on the part of the latter experiment it may be asserted, that the unsettled state of the country since that period ought very much to qualify any condemnation of its principle. But notwithstanding this disadvantage (which is much less, I fear, than has been insisted on), there would still have remained evidences of the probable success of the experiment. Those evidences were not satisfactory to my mind; and I may further observe, that while the people in general recommended the colonies to foreigners as especially worthy of their notice, I do not remember meeting with one individual who could point out any specific results, and few who would distinctly assert that there was any increasing and permanent benefit to the community from them.

It is probable that unless some great change is made in the present system, the colonies will be ultimately abandoned, or merge into the establishments for compulsory labour: in other words, the society will become the farmers, and the present colonists merely agricultural labourers, differing only from the ordinary labourer, inasmuch as they will work under the penalty of being treated as vagabonds in case of contumacy.

The observations I have hitherto made apply only to the free colonies. In the mendicity or compulsory colonies, the poor are assembled in large establishments, and cultivate the ground, either by task or day labour, and attend the cattle, &c., under the direction of certain officers; it is, in fact, a species of agricultural workhouse.

The following is a Return of the compulsory establishment at Merxplas. (p. 20.)

	1826.		1827.		1828.		1829.		1830.		1831.
Present on the 1st January	604		919		816		722		658		519
Admitted during the year	422		247		172		147		97		5
Brought back from desertion	6		25		12		23		27		18
Born	5		3		3		3		1		..
		1,037		1,194		1,003		895		783		542
Enlarged	7		159		135		116		82		18
Deserted	14		42		35		37		65		66
Died	91		166		104		37		81		23
Entered the military service as volunteers	..		..		2		39		28		..
Entered the militia	4		9		4		8		4		3
Brought before justice	2		2		1		3		8		..
		118		378		281		240		268		110
Total, 31st Dec.		919		816		722		655		515		432

The number of deaths is very striking. It amounts to 502 in six years, or 83⅔ per year, the average population during that time having consisted of 708 persons; so that the average annual mortality was nearly 12 per cent. The proportion of desertions appears also to have progressively increased, until in the last year 66 deserted out of 542.

On the whole the Belgian poor colonies appear to be valuable only as a warning.